{"id":329,"date":"2011-05-20T11:32:45","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T18:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/?p=329"},"modified":"2022-11-23T17:11:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T11:41:03","slug":"countable-and-uncountable-nouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/countable-and-uncountable-nouns\/","title":{"rendered":"Countable and Uncountable Nouns"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">A <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">min read <\/span><\/span>\n<p>So far in <a title=\"Nouns\" href=\"http:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/?p=316\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this<\/a> post, we have seen certain classifications of noun.&nbsp; In this post we will review the classification of nouns into countable or un-countable nouns.&nbsp; This classification is important because it governs use of certain adjectives with these nouns as covered below in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-is-countable-noun\">What is Countable Noun?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A countable noun is a word that can be counted and has a plural form.&nbsp; For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The word \u2018onion\u2019 is a countable noun because :<\/span><\/em>\n<ul>\n<li><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It can be counted as one onion, two onions, three onions etc.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It has a plural form (onions)<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><em>The word \u2018person\u2019 is a countable noun because :<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li><em>It can be counted as one person, two persons, three persons etc.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>It has a plural form (persons)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">By the same reasoning as above, words such as \u2018thing\u2019, \u2018job\u2019, \u2018coin\u2019, \u2018story\u2019 etc. are Countable Nouns.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-is-an-un-countable-noun\">What is an un-countable Noun?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An un-countable noun is a word that cannot be counted and that usually does not have a plural form.&nbsp; For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The word \u2018garlic\u2019 is a non-countable noun because :\n<ul>\n<li>It cannot be counted as one garlic, two garlics, three garlics etc.<\/li>\n<li>It does not have a plural form (garlics)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><em>The word \u2018knowledge\u2019 is a non- countable noun because :<\/em><em><br><\/em>&nbsp;\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>It can be counted as one knowledge, two knowledge, three knowledge etc.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>It does not have a plural form (knowledges)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By the same reasoning as above, words such as \u2018stuff\u2019, \u2018furniture\u2019, \u2018money\u2019, \u2018rice\u2019, \u2018anger\u2019&nbsp; etc. are non-countable nouns.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-can-i-determine-if-a-noun-is-countable-or-un-countable\">How can I determine if a noun is countable or un-countable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A word is a countable noun if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>It can be counted as 1 word, 2 words, 3 words<\/li><li>It has a plural form<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A word is an un-countable noun if<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>It cannot be counted as 1 word, 2 words, 3 words<\/li><li>It does not have a plural form<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-adjectives-can-be-used-with-countable-and-un-countable-nouns\">What adjectives can be used with countable and un-countable nouns?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Quantity adjectives such as \u2018few\u2019, \u2018number\u2019 etc. can only be used with countable nouns. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>You can say \u2018few songs\u2019 because here \u2018songs\u2019 is a countable noun; but you can\u2019t say \u2018few music\u2019 because \u2018music\u2019 is a non-countable noun.<\/li><li>Similarly you can say \u2018number of songs\u2019; but you can\u2019t say \u2018number of music\u2019 !!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Quantity adjectives such as \u2018less\u2019, \u2018amount\u2019 etc. can only be used with countable nouns.&nbsp; For example<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>You can say \u2018less music\u2019 because here \u2018music\u2019 is uncountable noun; but you can\u2019t say \u2018less songs\u2019 because songs is a countable noun and \u2018less\u2019 cannot be used with countable nouns.<\/li><li>Similarly the expression \u2018amount of music\u2019 is correct; while the expression \u2018amount of songs\u2019 is incorrect idiomatic usage.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-where-can-i-find-more-information\">Where can I find more information?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Such usage of quantity adjectives with nouns falls under idiomatic usage.\u00a0 This concept is covered in detail in the concept file titled \u201cIdioms \u2013 Quantities\u201d in the<a href=\"https:\/\/resources.e-gmat.com\/sign-up-free-trial\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\"> e-GMAT<\/a> Sentence Correction course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So far in this post, we have seen certain classifications of noun.&nbsp; In this post we will review the classification of nouns into countable or un-countable nouns.&nbsp; This classification is important because it governs use of certain adjectives with these nouns as covered below in this post. What is Countable Noun? A countable noun is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"e-GMAT","author_link":"https:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/author\/administrator\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.1.1 (Yoast SEO v17.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Countable and Uncountable Nouns<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/countable-and-uncountable-nouns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Countable and Uncountable Nouns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So far in this post, we have seen certain classifications of noun.&nbsp; In this post we will review the classification of nouns into countable or un-countable nouns.&nbsp; This classification is important because it governs use of certain adjectives with these nouns as covered below in this post. What is Countable Noun? A countable noun is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/e-gmat.com\/blogs\/countable-and-uncountable-nouns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"e-GMAT Blog | Best GMAT blog on the planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/E-Gmat-499275643430980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-20T18:32:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-23T11:41:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@e_GMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@e_GMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"e-GMAT\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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